Whatsapp Adds Payment Feature To It's Messaging Service
Whatsapp has introduced payments to its messaging app in India, making it the latest service to let users transfer money to one another with a text. After the pilot in India, this peer-to-peer payments, would be available in Nigeria and other African countries and it will have profound effect on banks already hemorrhaging from revenue losses. With the new service, users can now link their bank account to their WhatsApp account via Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and begin making payments straight to another user’s bank account through a WhatsApp chat. According to Ndubisi Ekewe, who is familiar with the development, banks have everything to worry about the risks to banks are clear. “The telcos have hated the global messaging app; now the banks join the fray. The risk to banks is clear: if WhatsApp becomes very successful in payments, it may become a small bank of itself. In other words, if people decide to be leaving money in their wallets without moving them to their bank accounts, m...
